Children and education in Dakar and St. Petersburg

As I have sent out to many professors and friends, this past semester I was in St. Petersburg, Russia and the semester before that in Dakar, Senegal. In both cities I had an internship working with children. Below I will paste what I wrote to friends and family in October 2006 about my experience at the school in Dakar and also my internship in St. Petersburg.

Dakar, Senegal:
I wanted to write about a school that I visited this morning with another CIEE student, Kendle. Kendle’s internship is related to education. For the past four weeks she has been teaching English to kids in secondary school. I don’t think she has ever taught before but for these kids it’s a good start. I later learned that there are 14 teachers for about 200 students. The teachers do get training, but I’m not sure how much. In any case, today Kendle taught the lower school kids. Because of the holidays, there were no teachers or something of that sort. Kendle had 25 students, which were mixed ages. I would say half were 1-3rd grade and the other half 5-7th grade age. She was teaching them “Hello, My name is (blank). What is your name? Nice to meet you.” And then “head shoulders knees and toes.” It was so chaotic. And maybe b/c I did summerbridge (a teaching program for college students in the United States; now known as Breakthrough Collaborative) I felt like I needed more of a structure. But then I realized, that today was under special circumstances b/c of the class combination. And also… how useful is English to these students? It was very overwhelming. The school is not public or private but ‘social.’ It’s for students who can’t afford public schools (here [in Senegal] they aren’t free) or failed out of public school or came from the villages and don’t have a birth certificate. It is the only one in Dakar and was founded and is run by someone who was in a koranique school until he was about 14. He taught himself English and French on the street. And began attending French school, which his father paid for, when he was 14. Then when he was 21, in secondary school, he had to stop b/c of strikes. And now… what he does is amazing. He had classes for all subjects all throughout the day, so that all kids, those who go to koranique school during the day, or who have to work to help their families, or adults, can come and learn to read and write, or math, etc. The school was in a poor neighborhood downtown. The buildings that surround it are hard to describe. They are like trailers but not really – cement building with tin metal roofs. The first time I saw them I was shocked b/c I hadn’t seen poverty here yet and it really is here; somehow we are just able to ignore it. Surprising though for a third world country… I think it’s the same in the states, especially in SF where there are SO many homeless people…

July 9, 2007
Reading that entry now, I realize that with my first impressions, I gave the school a bit too much credit. For the remainder of my time in Senegal I volunteered at that school twice a week. The director that I described above asked me to work with the little kids b/c of my smile and energy. We mostly did numbers and vowels in French, coloring, and learning how to write. The most frustrating feeling was watching their regular teacher sit back. One day I had to leave early and I asked her if she thought she could finish up with the coloring activity. A look of panic appeared on her face. I was so surprised. She was their teacher. Where was her energy? And when did watching kids (only 12 of them, each about 4 years old) color become so difficult? I felt like I was wasting my time. The kid were enjoying me being there and I do hope it had some impact but my goal was to present some of my ideas (or others') to the regular teacher so that she can utilize those techniques later, after I left. Everyone knew I wasn't going to be there long. I just felt like my efforts ended up being effective short-term instead of long-term. There is really no way for me to find out what is going on there now, but sadly I imagine little has changed.

St. Petersburg, Russia:
I stayed in St. Petersburg a month after my program end date to complete an internship I had attempted to begin in February. I worked for Doctors to Children, a branch of the US’s Doctors of the World. The organization has several projects ranging from working with babies rejected from HIV-positive mothers, or babies whose mothers are at rehab during the day, or at-risk children living in a social apartment, or at-risk children with families at a drop-in center, which also serves homeless (in Russian “street”) children. I worked at the social apartment as an English tutor with several different boys around the age of 16. I also worked at the drop-in center with the street children and the children with families but still considered “at-risk.” What I learned from this experience was that nothing is for sure. An event may be arranged (for example I helped to arrange field trips to museums around the city [there are 221 museums in St. Petersburg, including apartment/museums of famous Russian authors, not just Pushkin]) but the peple at the center told me to not rely on the sign-up list b/c the amount that actually do come is never equal to the amount that signed up. That was so weird for me – that lack of structure, at least compared to what I was used to at Breakthrough Collaborative last summer with lesson plans turned in every week, a schedule for the kids to follow, etc. I tried to introduce some games and logic activities and "word of the day" in Russian and English. I did so right before I left so I’m not sure if anything went into effect. I will have to call to find out. It’s sad leaving an organization where the help is needed, wanted, and appreciated. When I came back a second time the people at the drop-in center were so grateful. I explained to them that this was an internship I had set up for myself and that I would be coming every day. Still, there are no volunteers in Russia. No one does anything for free b/c everyone needs and wants money. I have never felt SO truly appreciated for something. Here, in the States, we’re paid for what we do so it’s expected. Even when I volunteer, I’m thanked for my time and energy, etc, but that’s expected, too. I think it’s good that volunteering is something that Americans (we?) are raised with be it for the resume or “wanting to change the world,” but I have to admit, I liked how my time and ideas were acknowledged. Most of all though, I hope that that center and others like it gets more volunteers, especially Russians, who can inspire the kids to stay off the streets, not drink beer to the extent that they do (especially at age 12 or younger), and not sniff glue or do other drugs. It’s sad to watch someone literally waste away their future like that. But I’m glad to see that there are organizations in Russia finally doing something about even if it’s slow.

I almost had an internship with a tolerance organization in St. Petersburg. Although the issue there, with all the hate and racial crimes, is a very important one, I am very happy I was able to see what is being done by government and non-government organizations to help children without families and children from families with difficulties. After a friend of mine read what I wrote about my internship in St. Petersburg, she wrote to me about her training in Houston for Teach for America. She said the kids she taught there we much more difficult than the ones we taught at Breakthrough in San Francisco last summer. I believe her. Her email was a nice or maybe more appropriately "sad," reminder of the problems with education and at-risk youth in the United States, not just abroad or only in underdeveloped countries. Most people I know, recognize this, but expect it more from a poorer society. I went to a conference last year where a recent college graduate spoke about an NGO for young girls and women she co-founded in Kenya after she had studied abroad there. She said her family members asked why she couldn't just stay in New York, her home town, and help poor children there. I'm not sure of her exact words but she said something along the lines of "everyone deserves the right to an education." She had already worked with those girls and did not want to be "just another white face that comes and goes." I think she has a good point. No matter where one is, children from needy backgrounds all need care, attention, and to be believed in by someone who in their eyes is not like them.